THE DAILY BRIEFING

HIRING SPREE

American companies went on a hiring spree last month in a sign that President Trump has inherited a robust jobs market. Official figures showed the number of people in work in the United States rose by 227,000 in January – the biggest increase in four months. But unemployment rose from 4.7pc to 4.8pc as the number of people looking for work also increased.

SALES BLOW

Newspaper publisher Johnston Press suffered a slump in full-year revenues. The group, which publishes the i and the Scotsman, said sales for the year to December 31 fell 6pc after difficult trading following the EU vote when revenue dropped 5pc. But overall sales rose 1pc during the final three months of the year thanks partly to improving business confidence.

GOLDEN BREXIT

The UK gold market enjoyed a Brexit bounce last year as investors moved to shield their purchasing power from sterling’s slump. The World Gold Council said the UK’s total bar and coin demand jumped 28pc to 10.9 tonnes in 2016.

SOARING FIGURES

Ryanair and British Airways’s owner posted rising passenger numbers last month. IAG, which also owns Iberia and Aer Lingus, carried 6.6m in January compared to 6.3m the year before. The Irish airline carried 8.7m last month, up 17pc from 2016.

APP FLOATS

Snapchat is poised to list on the US stock market in a £20bn flotation. The photo messaging app’s parent company filed documents in New York which revealed it made sales of £323m last year.

JOBS AXED

Deutsche Bank is slashing hundreds of trading jobs as it battles its way back to profit. The firm will axe 17pc of staff in its equities unit and 6pc of workers in the fixedincome division, sources said.

BEIJING CUTS

The People’s Bank of China has raised a key interest rate it charges commercial banks on the seven-day, 14-day and 28-day loans by 0.1 percentage points each.

TRADING BOSS

Shell has appointed Andrew Smith, its Australian chairman, to run its trading and supply operations.